El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007-2008) is a popular animated series on Nickelodeon created by a husband and wife team, Jorge Guitirrez and Sandra Equihua. It is about a 13-year-old Mexican boy, Manny Rivera, who has a magical belt that turns him into costumed superhero El Tigre (Spanish for 'The Tiger'*
Or just "tiger"; Spanish is more liberal when it comes to definite articles than English
).Unsure of whether he's destined to be a hero like his father, White Pantera, or whether crime is his true calling, like his grandfather Puma Loco, Manny refuses to pick one side over the other. He alternately contributes to and opposes the seedy goings-on of his town, Miracle City (described in the opening sequence as "a spicy cesspool of crime and villainy") with the aid and companionship of his best friend, Frida Suarez.Although Manny is mainly good to appeal to young viewers, he frequently disobeys his honest and heroic father and partakes in "bad" acts (e.g. buying the tattoo maker, kicking the crutch that kept Casa De Adios up and thus demolishing it).
This series contains examples of:
Action Mom: Well, Maria with her Plata Peligrosa powers, anyway.
All Guys Want Cheerleaders: A bunch of reccuring girls that Manny keeps trying to impress (he fails most of the time.)
Badass Family: His grandfather, father, and his mother at some point have all shown impressive superpowers. In 'A Grave Escape' it seems superpowers are mandatory in the Rivera family.
Point of fact it appears that the Rivera family has alternating generations of heroes and villains. Puma Loco (villain)'s father was Justice Jaguar (hero), whose father was the Mighty Cheetar (villain) and so on and so forth back to the first El Tigre who went insane trying to decide whether to be good or bad.
Actually, almost all of the super villains in this series have villainous family members. The Aves family, the Chipotle scientists, Sartana and Django, General Chapuza and Che, etc. Sergio and El Oso are first generation villains, but it seems traditional for the younger villains to be the successors of their parents.
Bad Future: In 'A Grave Escape', El Tigre I is shown to have gone insane due to not knowing which way to head (good or evil). Some fans believe Manny will do this.
Beautiful All Along: Played straight in "Mustache Love" when the ugly Sophia loses her unibrow and is suddenly beautiful (though she still sounds and acts the same). Subverted with Manny who looks pretty much the same without the mustache, but Sophia finds him repulsive.
Berserk Button: Do not call a Rivera a coward. Bad, bad idea.
Also never tell a zombie they cannot dance.
Also neverever harm Manny around his mother. Just don't.
Never call the Golden Eagle Twins' Zeppelin a blimp.
If you hurt Frida when Chief Suarez is around, pray for mercy.
Better as Friends: Much to Rodolfo's chagrin, his ex-wife Maria keeps insisting that they should remain Just Friends.
Between My Legs: Of Maria in the episode "A Mother's Glove".
Also of El Oso in "Sole of a Hero" and El Tigre in "Fistful of Collars"
Bumbling Dad: Rodolfo is a good father, but he's a bit of a dork sometimes. Especially in the presence of his lady love, Maria.
As a crime-fighting maverick, on the other hand, he's the real deal.
Bus Full of Innocents: Spoofed; "Mrs. Chequita! Pushing a baby carriage! Pulling a box full of kittens!"
Burping Contest: One between Manny and Zebra Donkey (in fact, this example provides the page quote) and once between Manny and Frida, who tried to pass their belches off as "a study on the effects of excess gas in the human body" (or something like that) for science class.
And so on for pretty much every other hero/villain with an alter ego.
Cardboard Prison: A Running Gag, which is frequently lampshaded by El Oso. This is also a plot point in one episode, where Manny's mother decides that the revolving door on the prison is ineffective and tries to rehabilitate criminals instead.
El Oso: "Can we speed this up, I want to break out in time for dinner!"
White Pantera's "Okay, be good!" Which, almost always provokes Manny to do the opposite.
Also: "UNCLEAN!"
Let's not forget, "THIS, I SWEAR!"
Carmelita Aves/Voltura often insists that she broke up with Rodolfo/White Pantera. When reminded that he broke up with her, she cries out "AS IF I COULD FORGET"
Chew Toy: Manny. Not an episode goes by that he goes through some slew of Amusing Injuries, sometimes impossibly over-the-top amusing injuries, and the universe seems to enjoy putting him through the wringer for humor's sake. If the episode calls for someone to go through extreme bad luck, you can be it will be Manny (and in fact several episodes almost entirely deal with hilariously bad things happening to him over and over). Frida sometimes gets it merely through being around him as well.
Clark Kenting: Parodied. When not superheroing, Radolfo wears a "disguise" of a unassuming brown suit, fedora and glasses that he doesn't need, just like Clark Kent. Despite everyone in the city knowing who he is, and that he's the superhero White Pantera. Also, note that he does so while wearing his superhero mask underneath the glasses.
Clothes Make the Maniac: Maria's Plata Peligrosa glove which gives her an exponentially increasing danger mania (coupled with desire to not remove the glove) the longer she wears it.
Clothes Make the Superman: Manny's entire family gets their super powers from articles of clothing or accessories:
Manny's El Tigre belt buckle.
Rodolfo's Bronze Boots of Justice.
Puma Loco's Golden Sombrero of Chaos.
Maria's Plata Peligrosa glove.
Cross-Dressing Voices: Did you know that Manny is voiced by Alanna Ubach, who played the maid in Meet The Fockers? Now you know.
Hartman Hips: Carmelita/Voltura, Maria (especially as Plata Peligrosa)...
Heart Symbol: Rodolfo when his undying love for Maria is especially close to the surface.
Hebephile: Senor Siniestro seems to be one of these to those who don't know he's really the thirteen-year-old Sergio. That includes (or consists entirely of) the audience.
Heroic RROD: Maria's Glove which makes her particularly Ax Crazy the longer she wears it.
Henshin Hero: Manny uses a special belt to transform from his secret identity to his superhero form. He also only possesses his super powers while in his superhero form.
Hot Mom: Maria Rivera, again, plus Voltura (Zoe Aves/Black Cuervo´s mom) and Carmela Suarez (Frida Suarez´s mom).
I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin: Maria with the Glove of Power. A flashback even shows she first got it when mystic items of power were getting passed around at a college party and she decided to experiment.
I Taste Delicious: Dr. Chipoltle Jr.'s guacamole monster apparently likes to eat itself. With nachos.
Just Eat Him: In one episode Sartana creates a huge bone monster that eats the Riveras and Frida, but they manage to bust their way out using the Caliente Catapult of Carnage. In another, a gigantic creature called the Dragonworm devours Manny (who happens to be the last ingredient that will make the Dragonworm "invincible"), but Rodolfo beats the tar out of it, believing it to be fake until he rescues Manny, and finds he's covered with real dragon spit. In another, Manny intentionally jumps into the gullet of Dr. Chipotle Jr.'s guacamole monster in order to destroy it from within using some kind of all-powerful guacamole.
Karma Houdini: The Golden Eagle Twins. Two twins who take advantage of their superhero fame to scam the locals into getting whatever they want. Despite Manny and Frida beating em in a fight and destroying their zeppelin ("IT'S NOT A BLIMP"). The city still supported then none the wiser to their true natures. What more Manny ended up getting imprisoned for a statue of them that was the destroyed in the fight.
Lampshade Hanging "It's like you kicked a puppy... a lost, unemployed puppy... with a cold."
Leitmotif: A few beyond general themes - Manny has the main theme, naturally. Grandpapi has a theme from Carmen that generally plays when a scene is about him.
Frida: Where? (Turns around, then realizes Chipotle ran away) Aw, man!
Love Cannot Overcome: Maria is unable to see her husband Rodolfo constantly in mortal danger... this is a little strange considering that she herself used to be a superheroine.
Masked Luchador: Several characters wear outfits somewhat reminiscent of this, including El Tigre and especially White Pantera.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Manny just can't remember the Chipotles' name. He's called Dr. Chipotle Jr. everything from Dr. Tomatilla to Dr. Chimpanzee. It's never clarified whether he's doing this on purpose or not.
Necromancer: Sartana of the Dead, who is a skeleton herself. In fact, anyone who manages to get her mystic guitar can raise the dead, as shown in 'Zebra Donkey'.
Prehensile Hair: Manny's sentient mustache Raul, as well as Sophia's sentient monobrow.
The Mustache Mafia too, of course.
Raised by Wolves: Parodied and subverted with El Oso. He was, technically, raised by bears, in that his whole life he followed around a family of bears that wanted nothing to do with him and tried with extreme failure to copy them. This included trying punching a beehive open to get the honey inside (and getting stung for his trouble), trying punching water in order to catch fish (and getting attacked by a fish for his trouble), and trying to scratch his back on a tree like the others by punching a twig (and getting smashed by a fallen tree... inexplicably). The bears, incidentally, spend the whole time trying to get rid of him.
Running Gag: Manny's desire for a jetpack and Maria hyperventilating when faced with something stressful. One episode also treated Sartana capturing Frida as one of these.
"Curse you, Dr. Eugene L. Butterman!"
A specific store called Manuel's Jewelry always getting robbed whenever there's a crime spree, and often when there isn't as well. The gigantic diamond display on the top of the store will also invariably be destroyed somehow.
Manny really needs that T-Belt... because his pants fall down at the slightest provocation, revealing Goofy Print Underwear.
Raul the World's Greatest Mustache ending every episode he's in by ripping off of Manny's face in the most painful way possible. Lampshaded by Frida in his last appearance.
Secret Identity: Sergio/Senor Siniestro, Diego/Dr. Chipotle Jr., and Zoe Aves/Black Cuervo all have separate civilian and villain forms. Diego is the only one whose villain form is his default, as we only see his disguise in one episode.
Shout Out: Just in case you didn't know, Frida and Manny's names are based on real-life Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and hubbie Diego Rivera.
Someone on production must be a Street Fighter fan, because a few characters from the games can be seen as background students at Manny's school in some episodes. This troper managed to spot Chun-Li, Cammy and Remy (from Third Strike).
The name Super Macho Fighters II should make that clear enough.
Frida's puppet show: "So then the rabbit said to the hunter, 'No, I'm a duck.'"
One episode has Manny and Frida visit El Oso's lair, where his twin brother is watching "tv" - really a rock with a crude picture of Yogi Bear drawn on it.
Later in the same episode, Manny and Frida try to lure a group of bears to follow them with a picnic basket. It works.
Sartana of the Dead's first name sounds suspiciously similar to that of another latin guitarist.
The episode in which Raul, the world's greatest mustache first appears has Manny enjoying the adult life, including working at stapling some very important TPS reports.
Shut Up, Kirk!: The Silver Sombrero angry at the monster that ate Manny for not letting him finish his speech.
Slasher Smile: Several of the villains, but especially the Titanium Titan, who rarely doesn't have his face stretched into a jagged, toothy, creepy grin.
Spaghetti Western: Invoked. Manny's school, Leone, is named after Sergio Leone, director of the Dollars Trilogy. Likewise, Django and Sartana of the Death are named after two protagonists from the genre.
Stalker with a Crush: Rodolfo's former sidekick, Titanium Titan, is completely obsessed with Rodolfo.
Stock Sound Effects: There's a few that you're bound to hear at least once an episode, including certain anime-style slashing sounds, an Audible Sharpness sound that's often used before something explodes, and a couple of commonly-used fart sounds that accompany everything from a garbage truck dumping out shredded trash goop, to a robot dog farting out a battery.
There's also a "warping" sound effect used for laser and the like which got a lot of memorable use in the old Fantastic Four animated show. In the sixties.
Stuffed Into A Locker: A recurring nerdy kid who always gets picked on by the bullies, and the goodies too.
Also the episode that reveals Maria was once a superhero.
Theme Naming: The superpowered characters who do not have a Spanish word in their names and/or aren't named after an animal can be counted on one hand. All of the Rivera men we've seen so far (good, neutral, or evil) are named after a big cat of some kind.
What the Hell, Hero?: White Pantera calls out his favorite Super Team for using his son as bait. Instead of feeling guilty and apologizing, they wanted (rather, begged) White Pantera to join them for destroying the monster, realizing they were wrong about him.
Also, he's mortified when he learns that Manny pretended to like Black Cuervo to get intel on the Flock of Fury's plans.
White Pantera: You took advantage of a lady's feelings? UNCLEAN!
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007-2008) is a popular animated series on Nickelodeon created by a husband and wife team, Jorge Guitirrez and Sandra Equihua. It is about a 13-year-old Mexican boy, Manny Rivera, who has a magical belt that turns him into costumed superhero El Tigre (Spanish for 'The Tiger'*).Unsure of whether he's destined to be a hero like his father, White Pantera, or whether crime is his true calling, like his grandfather Puma Loco, Manny refuses to pick one side over the other. He alternately contributes to and opposes the seedy goings-on of his town, Miracle City (described in the opening sequence as "a spicy cesspool of crime and villainy") with the aid and companionship of his best friend, Frida Suarez.Although Manny is mainly good to appeal to young viewers, he frequently disobeys his honest and heroic father and partakes in "bad" acts (e.g. buying the tattoo maker, kicking the crutch that kept Casa De Adios up and thus demolishing it).
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